Thursday Movie Picks: World War I

There are not enough World War I movies.

Best of 2016 (so far)

Blind Spot 2016: The Deer Hunter

When I picked The Deer Hunter for my July Blind Spot way back in December, I had little idea that the film and its maker, the unfortunate Michael Cimino, would come up in conversation so much in the months between. Cimino died on July 2nd of this year at 77, leaving a legacy of really only two films. One an epic Best Picture winner, a film widely acclaimed as a masterpiece. The other an epic flop of massive proportions that may also be a masterpiece...at least it is to some. I haven't seen it.

Thursday Movie Picks: Summer Camp

Wet Hot American Summer. Out.

Double Feature with My Wife: Swiss Army Man and The BFG

My wife thinks I'm an elitist movie snob and gets mad at me about it sometimes. Sure. She's willing to go along with my more adventurous side and see something like Swiss Army Man, even though, to her, "it just seems too weird." But I'm the guy who also wanted to see The BFG, a mainstream children's movie directed by Steven Spielberg. I will always see every Spielberg movie. It's a given. But here's what I mean:

On Home Video: Everybody Wants Some!!

I'm pretty sure if I met Richard Linklater, we would instantly hit it off. He just gets it. His first great idiosyncratic comedy, the late-seventies one-nighter Dazed and Confused, served as an inspiration for my and my friends' teenage antics. His new one in that same vein, serves as a sort of "spiritual sequel" to the former, and works for me as a remembrance of college. Seriously, the events of this film are dangerously close to some of my college experiences. Seriously. Just not in as short a succession. (Don't judge me. I was a moron.)

Thursday Movie Picks: Female Ensembles

I got into an argument with my Mom early yesterday morning about some family drama. It seriously ruined my Wednesday. I couldn't even put together this post. I was blocked up, a bit depressed. I couldn't figure out, of all the movies with great female casts, which ones I wanted to highlight. Then, I took a few out of my list and came up with what follows...

...a tribute to a few movies of my childhood, with Female Ensembles, that my Mom LOVED and watched repeatedly, so that she could feel something, empower herself through stories of female empowerment, and, of course, get a good cry.

Thursday Movie Picks: Single Location Movies

Our place in both time and space can change us. That's all life really is...right? A series of times spent in certain places, playing out a certain events, coming in and out on bookends, different at then from where you began. Movies that reflect this are often great, and they do it simply by being simple... characters in a specific place, trying to figure things out or survive or learn and grow or all of those things.